Malta

Oops... it appears I haven't done a blog in a very VERY long time. Apologies for that, I either haven't been in a writing mood or I have been pretty flipping busy this holiday. I thought that after my exams had finished I would have had an awful lot of free time for blogs, blogs and even more blogs. But it just hasn't worked out that way.

I'm going to start off this blog talking about my trip to Malta which I actually set off on over a month ago, i'm just terrible at doing things on time. It was one of the most amazing holidays I have ever been on. I went with the wonderful Rob who made the trip brilliant and nearly saved my life...

I had no idea what to expect with Malta and no idea how busy/quiet the place we were staying (St Paul's Bay) would be. It actually turned out to be slap bang in the middle.. in the day it was pretty quiet and relaxing yet in the evening everything came alive and the hustle and bustle of the pubs and restaurants became evident.

The first day I was stupid.. I stayed in the sun far too long and didn't drink enough water. This resulted in me losing my vision and fainting whilst half way up a flight of stairs. Luckily though I'd warned Rob my vision was going blurry and he actually managed to catch me mid-faint so I escaped with nothing more than a little bump on my shin. Could have ended up a lot worse and resulted in the rest of the holiday not being as good!

We spent most of the holiday just relaxing in St Paul's Bay but took two day trips. One was to Valetta which is the capital city of Malta and it was good to see lots of English shops and wander round exploring. The second day trip was on a boat trip (hadn't realised I was sea-sick until that day when my stomach was bouncing all over the place) where we visited two small islands Gozo and Comino. Comino is home to a Blue Lagoon where the waters are perfectly clear and it was breathtaking. We were given enough time to go swimming in the Lagoon which for me was the holiday highlight.

After initially having no idea what to expect it became one of the best holidays of my life and I know that Rob and I will go back there one day. It was absolutely beautiful and the views were just insane. I will just leave you with a couple more pictures from our trip...

Rob and I at Gozo 

Our first night in Malta

Overlooking St Paul's Bay

Relaxing by our rooftop pool

Age is just a number...

Today in psychology we had a cover teacher and as with every time your normal teacher is away, you do anything but the work you're supposed to do. The discussion this lesson led to talking about age gaps in a relationship and I thought I had a bit of experience on this topic so well here goes :P

When you're a teenager age gaps in a relationship are seen as such a big deal but as you get older and older the gap seems much smaller. Age gaps are actually more common than people think. I know a lot of my friends have been or are currently with someone who is more than a couple of years older than them. 

Now I met Rob when I was 16 and he was 22. As soon we went public I was questioned about it by a lot of people I know. A 5 and a bit year gap when I was just  16 was seen as a big deal and wrong in many people's eyes. But I honestly never thought anything of it and I'm pretty sure that Rob didn't either. I don't see Rob as someone who is much older than me, I see us as equal and he's the guy I love regardless of his age. Age isn't even a factor anymore. The only time I have ever really seen the age gap is when I was under 18 and couldn't get alcohol, go clubbing and watch '18' rated films at the cinema and he could, but now I'm over 18 I forget about the age gap as it is totally irrelevant. Yet although it doesn't bother me or Rob, I used to constantly find myself justifying our relationship to others and reassuring people, my parents especially. 

Age gaps are totally fine in the media and celebrity couples, so why not in 'real life'? Just look at these couples with major age gaps:

• Beyonce and Jay Z = 12 years
• Bradley Cooper and Suki Waterhouse = 17 years
• Adam Levine and Behati Prinsloo = 10 years gap
• Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas = 25 years
• Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds = 11 years

I was wondering whether it was just me with this idea as there are a fair few people who think age gaps shouldn't happen so I got a couple of other people's suggestions on the topic:

"I think that age gaps should never be an issue. Each individual falls in love with someone for a reason. Just like people shouldn't be judged on gender preferences, they shouldn't be judged on age gaps" - Jess

"When you really love someone, age, distance, height and weight are just god damn numbers. Who cares if one is older than the other? God was like 100,000 years older than Mary when he got her knocked up" - Harriet (always known for her highly sensible thoughts :P

And of course I asked Rob on his thoughts on our age gap - "Age isn't really something that has concerned me about our relationship at all throughout the entire time that we have been going out. Our gap is about 5.5 years(?) but I wouldn't say that the difference makes me any maturer (is that even a word!!?), in fact half the time you are still maturerer than me (ok that one definitely isn't a word). I have been around people older than myself all my life, from a young age, so I suppose for me it has alwasy been the norm to ignore it as an issue. And of course, I fell in love with you and for that reason nothing else matters" - aww he's cute

So it looks as if I am not alone with my thoughts on age gaps, would love to hear everyone else's views on this or if you yourself have a relatively big age gap and if it's even given you problems.

xx

And in 5 years time...

Carrying on from my last post talking about the past and the future I've come with a list (we all love lists right?!) of the .... things I want to have achieved in the next 5 years:

1. Have done well enough in my A-Levels to get into the University of Cumbria
2. To have graduated from said university
3. To be in a teaching job - not too fussed what type in the short term
4. To finally own a car - preferably a small pink one but beggars can't be choosers
5. Own two rabbits called Flopsy and Fumbles *cute*
6. Have a house and have it all decorated like a proper interior designer making it look all adulty and grown-up like
7. Have taken Rob to Switzerland because it is the most beautiful place in the whole wide world
8. Gone on a hot air balloon flight
9. Know a lot more than 'Bonjour' in French
10. This blog being more successful and reaching a wider audience
11. Be able to last more than 2 hours without my room being a tip
12. Go on a proper skydive (Maybe! Undecided yet, think I would bottle it)
13. Be able to run more than 10 minutes without feeling I am about to die
14. Maybe even be engaged.. who knows what the future brings?
15. Have happiness, true proper happiness

Hurry up Summer

Sunbathing with Rob 

There are many reasons that I adore summer: the sun, BBQs, ice cream, holidays, no school and late nights are just a few of them. When it comes to the summer time and there is no school, everyone is happier and more relaxed with nothing to do but just chill.

I'm currently on the countdown to summer - well it's actually a countdown until my exams have finished (17th June - 113 days) but they are the same thing in my eyes. As soon as my exams are done then summer can officially begin. It's probably going to the longest summer ever as I don't even start university until the middle of September and I really want to pack as much in as possible to make it worthwhile.

If my work was a bit more flexible so I could take more time off and if I had more money then I would definitely have gone travelling. There are a couple of people I know who have been on gap years this year and have been to loads of places and it has made me so so jealous. I
 will get round to it one day! However, that plan has been scrapped and instead I will be doing a few more days of work at Primark so I can save up some money for university. I am also lucky enough to be going away to a few places as well: Malta and Cornwall with Rob and then Barcelona with my mum and my sister. It will be great to get out of Preston for a bit and enjoy some 'proper' sun.

Me and my cousin canoeing last year <3

I've also got some inspiration from films as well. You know in films where groups of friends have a massive BBQ and sit around a little camp fire just chatting and being relaxed together as a group? I definitely want to do this in the summer ahead. Rob's also agreed to be in charge of the BBQ so that's a bonus and one step forward in arranging it (as long as we don't die from food poisoning hehe)

Fingers crossed it will be the best summer of my life and I am determined to make it this way!
Now all I need is to get these exams out of the way and I can enjoy myself to the max.

Thought I would share a few snaps from last year's summer:

Enjoying the beach - one of my favourite things about summer

SWIMMING :D

In Salou about to go on Europe's highest rollercoaster yay!

Trying (and failing) to get a tan in my garden